Major League Baseball Player. Known as 'Big Bill,' he had a fairly unsuccessful and brief career as a pitcher with some dreadful Cardinals teams. He started off with Minor League Altoona in 1909. Joining the Cardinals in 1910, he went 4-4 for a St. Louis club that went a disastrous 63-90. Cardinals manager Roger Bresnahan decided to clean house and dropped five pitchers the following season, with Steele being one of the pitchers to survive. He worked 287 innings and led the NL in losses with an 18-19 record in 1911, but had a very respectable 3.73 era. The following year he was hit hard, as he gave up 245 hits in 194 innings, his era ballooning to 4.69. He was relegated to the bullpen thereafter, used in mostly long relief and mop-up duty. He was sold by St. Louis to the Brooklyn Robins in July of 1914, where he appeared in the final 8 games of his career. He played with minor league clubs in Newark and Syracuse in 1915 and was with Gettysburg in 1916 when he retired. After his career, he worked for the A&P Stores warehouse as a maintenance man. He was killed when he was hit by a streetcar on the rainy night of October 19th, 1949. He was taken by ambulance but died on the way to the hospital. Over the course of his career, in 129 league games, Bill Steele accrued a 37-43 record with 7 saves and a 4.02 era, with 676.7 innings pitched.
Major League Baseball Player. Known as 'Big Bill,' he had a fairly unsuccessful and brief career as a pitcher with some dreadful Cardinals teams. He started off with Minor League Altoona in 1909. Joining the Cardinals in 1910, he went 4-4 for a St. Louis club that went a disastrous 63-90. Cardinals manager Roger Bresnahan decided to clean house and dropped five pitchers the following season, with Steele being one of the pitchers to survive. He worked 287 innings and led the NL in losses with an 18-19 record in 1911, but had a very respectable 3.73 era. The following year he was hit hard, as he gave up 245 hits in 194 innings, his era ballooning to 4.69. He was relegated to the bullpen thereafter, used in mostly long relief and mop-up duty. He was sold by St. Louis to the Brooklyn Robins in July of 1914, where he appeared in the final 8 games of his career. He played with minor league clubs in Newark and Syracuse in 1915 and was with Gettysburg in 1916 when he retired. After his career, he worked for the A&P Stores warehouse as a maintenance man. He was killed when he was hit by a streetcar on the rainy night of October 19th, 1949. He was taken by ambulance but died on the way to the hospital. Over the course of his career, in 129 league games, Bill Steele accrued a 37-43 record with 7 saves and a 4.02 era, with 676.7 innings pitched.
Bio by: Frank Russo
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